Konbu (from ) is edible kelp mostly from the family Laminariaceae and is widely eaten in East Asia. It may also be referred to as dasima () or haidai ().
Kelp features in the diets of many civilizations, including Chinese and Icelandic; however, the largest consumers of kelp are the Japanese, who have incorporated kelp and seaweed into their diets for over 1,500 years.
Prominent species
There are about eighteen edible species in Laminariaceae and most of them, but not all, are called kombu. Confusingly, species of Laminariaceae have multiple names in biology and in fisheries science. In the following list, fisheries science synonyms are in parentheses, and Japanese names follow them. Saccharina japonica (Laminaria japonica), Saccharina japonica var. religiosa (Laminaria religiosa), Saccharina japonica var. diabolica (Laminaria diabolica), l Saccharina japonica var. ochotensis (Laminaria ochotensis), – commonly used for soup stocks Saccharina latissima (Laminaria saccharina), Karafuto-kombu – contains mannitol and is considered sweeter Saccharina angustata (Laminaria angustata), – commonly used in the making of dashi Saccharina longissima (Laminaria longissima), Saccharina coriacea (Laminaria coriacea), Saccharina sculpera (Kjellmaniella sculpera), Saccharina longipedalis (Laminaria longipedalis), Enaga-kombu Saccharina gyrata (Kjellmaniella gyrata), Saccharina cichorioides (Laminaria cichorioides), Chijimi-kombu Arthrothamnus bifidus,
Etymology
Kombu is a loanword from Japanese.
In Old Japanese, edible seaweed was generically called "me" (cf. wakame, arame) and kanji such as "軍布", 海藻 or "和布" were applied to transcribe the word. Especially, kombu was called hirome (from hiroi, wide) or ebisume (from ebisu). Sometime later the names konfu and kofu appeared respectively in two editions of Iroha Jiruishō in 12th–13th century.
Various theories have been claimed for the origin of the name kombu, with the following two predominant today.
One is that it originated from the on'yomi (Sino-Japanese reading) of the Chinese name 昆布 (kūnbù). The kanji itself already could be seen in Shōsōin Monjo (8th century) and Shoku Nihongi (797) in Japan, and furthermore trace back in China, as early as 3rd century, to the book Wupu Bencao (around 239). Li Shizhen wrote the following in his Bencao Gangmu (1596):
Another possibility to explain the association arises because descriptions of kūnbù in Chinese documents are vague and inconsistent, and it is impossible to identify to which seaweed the term might have applied. For instance, Chen Cangqi (681–757) noted: "kūnbù is produced in the South China Sea; its leaf is like a hand and the size is the same as a silver grass and a reed, is of red purple; the thin part of leaf is seaweed", which is similar to wakame, arame, kurome, or kajime (Ecklonia cava). The difficulty is that, at least in that time, kombu was not produced either in the East nor in the South China Sea. Moreover, following Zhang Yxi, Li Shizhen classified kūnbù and haidai (stands for kombu in Chinese) as different things, and this classification continues in China today.
History
The Erya (3rd–2nd century BC) noted that "Qūan resembles 綸 (lace, cord or rope). This is in the East China Sea." The Wupu Bencao (3rd century) mentions it as "Gūanbù, alias kūnbù". Tao Hongjing (456–536) noted kūnbù is edible. As previously mentioned, however, kūnbù can not be identified with kombu. Zhang Yuxi referred to haidai in the book Jiayou buzhu Shen Nong bencao (嘉祐補註神農本草; 1060).
Although archaeological evidence of seaweed is hard to find because of its easy decomposition, some plant remains of wakame seaweed are found in some ruins of the Jōmon Period which leads to the supposition that kombu was also eaten at that time. As to surviving documents, the letters 軍布 (in Sino-Japanese reading 軍 is gun/kun; 布 is fu/pu/bu) appeared in Man'yōshū and wood strips from Fujiwara-kyō, and may have indicated kombu. The Shoku Nihongi (797) reports: in 797 of Emishi (Ainu or Tohoku region people) stated they had been offering up kombu, which grew there, as tribute to the Yamato court every year without fail. The Engishiki (927) also reports that kombu had been offered up by Mutsu.